If you're not a millionaire, you have no business taking weekends off. Lessons from multimillionaires we can implement today

When looking at millionaire’s we want to emulate, we need to look at people who are self made, started work like everyone else and then went on to make their millions. One simple word can sum up the difference between the wealthy and the people that work for the wealthy. Choices. The choices they made, big or small, shaped their life and ultimately got them to where they are now. How did they get to where they are? What gave them their special idea and how did they manage to scale so big to help them earn such large amounts of money.

It is important to note, here at GSY we value fulfilment and happiness over any amount of money. If you are happy earning £50k, £100k, £1million a year, that is your prerogative. A happy and fulfilled life won’t feel that different whether you’re earning hundreds, thousands or millions. The more money you have, the more bells and whistles you have, that’s about it. Let’s take a look at what we can implement in our lives today to start moving forward and building a life where we can spend time doing what is precious to us.

The wealthy understand the importance of work ethicNo one that is self made doesn’t appreciate a hard day’s work, they may be at a point now where they don’t need to put in 16 hour shifts, 7 days a week but believe me, they’ve been there. They will always go above and beyond what is expected of them. When you are building a business, whatever it is – a restaurant, consultancy firm or a gym, it is important you do whatever it takes to make it a success. If it is a new brand and a new concept, you want repeat customers, you want them to come back and rave about your service or product to their friends and family. This is only done by over-delivering, meaning, if someone comes into your restaurant or gym, you make their visit the best it can possibly be by going over and beyond their expectations. If you are consulting for them helping them out with x, y, z, you should offer them more advice on anything else they are struggling with and get work done ahead of schedule to a brilliant standard. You get the gist – basically, go above and beyond and show everyone why you’re worth it.

Everything mentioned above is really hard work, no doubt about it. The struggle is all part of it and it helps you to become the person you need to be to achieve success in whatever field you are in.

Employment was never an optionSometimes it isn’t always possible to be running your own company or consultancy, you need to start somewhere and sometimes that means having a job. The wealthy understand that this was never a long term thing and they work in their spare time to help create the future they want. There are very few people that make huge amounts of money being employed and if they do they are usually working crazy hours for the rest of their life. This comes back to my previous point of fulfillment, now if that makes you happy then you should follow your heart, but most people want time to enjoy their time and money. This can only happen if you are an entrepreneur or self employed.

If you are working for someone, you are being paid for the time you are giving them. This is the single worst way of getting an income as you will always be capped by the amount of hours you work. There are only 24 hours in a day! In that time you need to sleep, eat, love, laugh and all the other stuff life throws at you. The wealthy leverage their time, they invest their money before they consume it. It is very simple really, either you get that nice car on finance when you first start earning good money or you make your money work for you and invest it, every month. Create passive income, this is the only way to true financial freedom.

"Once you decide to work for yourself, you never go back to work for somebody else."

Alan Sugar

They understand their strengths and work with themThere are many people that can do lots of things to an average level, for example, if you are an extremely sporty individual and you grew up playing most sports under the sun you will be able to play pretty much anything at a competitive level for leisure. The question is, would you get paid for it? No, of course not. People pay experts and you can’t be an expert at everything.

There is no need to work on your weaknesses as you can get help from potential partners or consultants or even close friends and family to help you along the way. The wealthy are aware of what they can do well and they go all out to showcase their talents. If you are an amazing graphic designer but can’t really copyright for your clients, there is no need to try to do some that won’t be half as good as your design work. It brings your value down, it is easier and more productive to acquire help with things you are not good at.

They have a real sense of purpose and a burning desire to make it a realityThis really is the star of the show when it comes down to the real reason people make it in life. If one has a burning desire to make something happen, whatever it is, they will fight till the very end to ensure they get what they want. This doesn’t have anything to do with motivation or money or status and the great thing about burning desire and purpose is that anyone from any background can have it and use it to create something massive. The burning desire can come from anywhere and once you have that real sense of purpose, it will be in everything you do, from waking up early hours of the morning, missing meals, late nights and all the rest of it.

“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.”

John F. Kennedy

The reason this is so important is because life has a way of making the road to success incredibly difficult, there will be many roadblocks. Sometimes these roadblocks will completely throw you off course and you will have to fight just to get back to where you were or even go backwards. None of this matters to people with real purpose, they will do whatever needs to be done.

Next stepsIf you can’t do what you love, create a situation where you can make it possible yourself. Create something that has real purpose in this World, the more value you can create for people will affect how great a return you get on your blood, sweat and tears. Real winners will go out and make their own ‘luck’. Find something you love, use your strengths to make it happen, fill the gaps as and when needed. Work hard and always do your best, your future self will thank you.

Under promise and over deliver, be great at what you do. You owe it to yourself and the rest of the world. GSY